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2021 01 14 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN January 14, 2021 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Tuesday, January 14, 2021, at 5:34 P.M., in the Council Chamber of Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Laura Alvarado Council Member Jacob Powell Council Member Charles Johnson Council Member Mike Lester Council Member Chris Presley Council Member Heather Betancourth Mayor Pro Tern Brandon Capetillo Mayor Rick Davis City Manager Karen Horner City Attorney Leticia Bryseh City Clerk Keith Dougherty Sergeant at Ar ns Mayor Capetillo convened the January 14, 2021, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:34 P.M., all members were present. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Receive an update on Community Engagement initiatives. Community Engagement Coordinator Sabrina Martin presented the item and stated that she was very grateful to the Council for allowing her to present some community engagement updates from the last six months. Ms. Martin stated that she would begin with the City's podcast, which started at the end of May, beginning of June 2020. She noted that this is the City's first community -led podcast, with 19 episodes, 21 guests, and around 1,400 downloads, which is really exciting. She noted that we have had guests from nonprofits, from the Police Department, from various City departments, so that we can learn more about the city, our projects, and everyone is really excited about 2021. She noted that a few volunteer projects happened last fall; such as the park pavilion painting out at Roseland Park. This was a partnership intended to unify the way the parks are looking, so they all have the same pavilions, and noted that this has been a really good project for student -led organizations with over a hundred volunteers at these events. She stated that the next event held was the Baytown Nature Butterfly Garden clean-up with around a hundred volunteers. This project grew from a small butterfly garden clean-up to a larger garden and coastal clean-up event City Council Regular Work Session Minutes January 14, 2021 Page 2 of 5 because there was just so much interest to include larger organizations, churches, ExxonMobil and a few school groups. Ms. Martin commented that as it relates to the Storm Drain Art Program, the City did a call for artists with about 20 applications of design being received, many of them from local artists with three of them being selected. Ms. Martin presented to the Council the three different designs that will be painted this Saturday, January 1 b'h, at Bergeron Park, and invited all interested individuals to attend and see the artists at work She indicated that the City's Teen Roundtable will start up next week and the purpose of this group is to revitalize the City's Youth Advisory Commission. Ms. Martin noted that applications were opened to the public to see who would be interested and staff received over 50 applications. The interviews were conducted and the selected students are super passionate, which made her really excited to be a part of this program. She stated that most of the participants care a lot about political literacy, getting involved, seeing behind the scenes how things work, and other things like that. She stated that they plan to bring some of the students in to meet the Council at the end of April, beginning of May. Ms. Martin then presented the Civics Academy, which kind of transformed from the last time this item was discussed with council as the Citizen's Leadership Academy. This new academy has moved more towards civics because staff really wants to focus on creating connections with our residents, particularly from a local government standpoint. She then noted that the staff was thinking this would be a three to four -month program, the curriculum would include the same thing as the Teen Roundtable as it relates to civic engagement. They want to have some departments participate in a form of speed dating, where participants learn more about what each department is doing as well as some behind -the -scenes tours. Realistically, this would work great in a post-COVID world or post -vaccine, that sort of thing, so staff is hoping to start advertising in March, accepting applications in April or May, and getting started this summer. She stated that Baytown Engage is one of her favorite projects from the last six-month period. The project launched on September 1, 2020, and it now has 12 project pages; and since then we have had over eight thousand unique visitors to the page, so it is getting a lot of attention and we are really excited. Ms. Martin noted that one of the success stories from Baytown Engage is the Bayway Corridor Study Plan, which had over 2,000 visitors with a ton of feedback from the general public through 350 surveys and over 200 documents which were downloaded meaning that we learned more about what the stakeholders were doing, what the committees were doing, what the city has been doing, and residents really engaged and left us their feedback. Ms. Martin proceeded to comment that staff wants to also promote the City's Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) on Baytown Engage, which is terrific because it promotes transparency as we are able to have a two-way dialogue with our residents as our point of contact or project managers are able to answer questions directly to the residents, and it really starts to build trust with our community. She noted that Garth Road is the most popular page on the street projects and coming soon to Baytown Engage will be the Comprehensive Plan 2040 and Imagine Baytown, the Strategic Plan, which goes live tomorrow. City Council Regular Work Session Minutes January 14, 2021 Page 3 of 5 Ms. Martin noted that the Empowerment Grant Program is probably her absolute favorite project as staff really wanted to focus on building connections with residents by creating little things that make a huge impact in the neighborhood and add to that quality of life, as well as, to help create a sense of place and really build the community. These grants could be of the following categories: beautification, neighborhood safety, and connecting neighbors. She noted that applications are due tomorrow and staff has already received several responses. Some of the proposed projects received were for neighborhood entrance signs, big large-scale park improvements, landscaping, interest in drainage and sidewalks, and ideas for community gatherings or a block parties, similar to what is done with National Night Out. In her position as the City's Community Engagement Coordinator, Ms. Martin stated that it has really allowed her and other members of the staff to make many connections with residents and she is really looking forward to expanding those connections with the various city departments in order to better serve the community. Council Member Alvarado stated that she had participated in two meetings held in District 1, and because of her experience with those, she could not say enough of the work that Sabrina has done with the team, the community, and the Baytown Civic Association; really well done. Council Member Betancourth thanked Ms. Martin for her enthusiasts and creativity that she brought to this role. She stated that the only piece of feedback she wanted to give is that she would love to see the volunteer program evolve to where the City is not connecting volunteers just with like Park's projects, but actually connecting thetas with residents who need assistance. For example, they could have frequent code violations and they either do not have the means or the physical abilities to fix them themselves, and she would love it if staff could identify those frequent flyers and connect them with church groups and the Exxon groups to help them with whatever exterior or life safety issues or landscaping issues that they might have. She believes that would be a win not only for them and the volunteers, but for the community as a whole to help these people address their own issues and just evolve it not so much with Parks or city facilities because we do have a really competent and good staff that does a good job with those things. However, there are people in our community who, they need help and this is a really good way to help them and beautify the city the same time. Ms. Martin stated that staff can definitely explore that recommendation. Council Member Presley commented that lie too has attended one of these meetings and he felt that staff has done a great job and he shared the same feeling; it is a great program. b. Receive and discuss an Emergency Management Update. Emergency Management Coordinator Jamie Galloway presented the Council with an overview of the work completed by the City's Office of Emergency Management. Mr. Galloway introduced David Alamia, the City's Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator, who handles the planning side of the EOC duties; such as shelters. Mr. Galloway noted that all of the City' plans, to include shelters as well as operation guidelines for COVID, were all updated in the last year. City Council Regular Work Session Minutes January 14, 2021 Page 4 of 5 They coordinated with FEMA and the Red Cross to ensure hurricane preparedness was in place, to include signage, correspondence and agreements with local churches for shelters among other things. Mr. Galloway noted that in regards to the disaster supply warehouse, one of the tasks he was given upon his arrival, is pretty much completed, but he continues to work with the Community Service Division to clean out old storage sites and move all emergency supplies that are still viable and in good condition to the warehouse. Even with COVID, they have been able to keep up with the Annex updates and the City's level preparedness, all departments completed their annex plans which helps with future funding and execution. He further noted that in regards to communications, the City's program, Swift Reach, was updated with a current contact list and warning zone maps, in order to get current and up-to-date information to those in our community that are most impacted quickly and efficiently. Community outreach was a little bit difficult this past year, but staff had a virtual workshop with the National Weather Service that went really well. As it relates to the Emergency Operation Center, staff received an Urban Area Security Initiative Grant for 5805000 for technology enhancements. With those monies, the City upgraded the monitors, added a new weather station and replaced a broken one, added a backup system, and other miscellaneous items. As it relates to COVID, the staff has worked closely with area partners and stakeholders to monitor the pandemic, provide support and needed and looking for funding opportunities for the City. Mr. Galloway noted that the 2020 Hurricane Season had 30 named storms, 12 of them hit the U.S. coast and many of them came very close to us, so we were ready and prepared for anything. He noted that 2021 looks to have the same or more hurricane activity, and that their priorities for 2021 include to continue to support operations and COVID response and look at what can be done to expand the EOC. C. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda for January 14, 2021, which is attached below. Members of the council requested more time to review the item related to the City's federal and state legislative priorities; City Manager Rick Davis stated that the item would be put on the January 28, 2021, City Council agenda for their consideration, along with an item on the January 28, 2021, to take in any additional comments and/or concerns related to the item. City Council Regular Work Session Minutes January 14, 2021 Page 5 of 5 ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the January 14, 2021, City C;puncil Regular Work Session at 6:23 P.M. Let(cia Brysch, City Clerk a City of Baytown fJ \,:S'C "